The relationship between human beings and the cosmos can be subjected to a scientific as well as a poetic gaze. Several other notions are derived from the concept of the cosmos. Cosmopolitanism relates to the ethical ideal of belonging, as a citizen of the world, to a universal community. Cosmopolitics corresponds to a concern with providing local politics with a cosmopolitan dimension and transnational politics with a democratic dimension. This book intends to discuss the various perspectives on the cosmos, cosmopolitanism, cosmopolitics, and other related concepts.

Alexander von Humboldt aimed »to grasp the whole world«. He searched the unknown in order to explain that which was close but incomprehensible as a result of being seen in isolation from the network to which it belongs. All natural, cultural and social phenomena are interrelated and should be studied as a whole. Contrary to a hierarchical scientific methodology based on a first principle that supports the whole, Humboldt conceives a complex network in which every individual element is equally important, despite each having its own unique dimensions and logic. Humboldt’s natural studies, classifications, and measurements, as well as his social, artistic, cultural, political and economic research, make up a theory of the cosmos that connects all of these different spheres.